A plaque to commemorate Victorian engineer William Armstrong was unveiled on Friday 26 November at Briton Ferry, marking the 200th anniversary of his birth.
The plaque was presented by ICE Wales Cymru to the custodians of Brunel Tower, Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council, to commemorate the involvement of Armstrong in south Wales and particularly with Briton Ferry Dock. During the Victorian era all the south Wales docks would have boasted hydraulic equipment made by the Newcastle based inventor and industrialist. One of the accumulator towers built for Armstrong’s hydraulic equipment survives near the entrance to the inner basin of Briton Ferry dock and it is here that the anniversary will be marked.
The presentation was made by the Chair of the Institution of Civil Engineers Wales Cymru, Sally Sudworth, who said:
“I am pleased to make the presentation of this commemorative plaque to honour an engineer who was a President of the Institution of Civil Engineers and who had such a strong connection with South Wales contributing to the success of our docks, particularly Briton Ferry dock.”
The dock was opened on 22 August 1861 and in that year Sir William Armstrong (knighted in 1859) was elected to his first term as president of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and he would serve as president of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1881-82.
Photo: L to R: Keith Thomas (ICE Panel for Historic Works member Wales), Cllr Hugh James (Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council, Briton Ferry Town Council and Brunel Dock Trust), Cllr Alun Thomas (Leader Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council), Sally Sudworth (Chair of ICE Wales Cymru), Denis McCann (Chairman Institution of Mechanical Engineers South Wales Region), Keith Jones (Director, ICE Wales Cymru). Photo by Stephen K. Jones